The rich and famous could be queuing around the block for a chance to get their hands on what must surely be the most over the top way in which to enter the afterlife: a gold-plated coffin with a gold-plated mobile to match.

The International Luxury Fair, which is taking place in Verona throughout March, is playing host to a number of the most over-the-top items for the seriously loaded amongst us and the golden coffin will surely be a talking point.

You will need fairly deep pockets if you want to be buried in an excessive style: the coffin will cost £255,000. For your money, you get a lined casket with a touchscreen mobile phone inside, presumably to avoid being buried alive.

Other insanely expensive items on show include a grand piano encrusted with crystals and a speed boat that has the engine from a Ferrari supercar humming beneath the bonnet. There is no word on the price of these items, but then if you have to ask, you probably cannot afford them.

Although the golden coffin pushes the boundaries of taste, it is the gem-covered sofa coated in crocodile skin that takes the prize as the most inappropriate item on show. Perhaps the organisers’ understanding of the word ‘luxury’ is closer to the word ‘macabre’ than it might seem to an outsider.

Coating standard gadgets in gold and then selling them for incredible prices is not a new idea. In fact, potential clients who are considering the golden coffin might want to replace the included mobile phone with the gold-plated iPhone Supreme.